Review : The story was nice . Firstly i like the topic it was so interesting. The story is about Rose and Allnut what happen with them while the journey to England.
Maha Al Koos ( )

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with this book, in large part because I saw the movie first (which I very much enjoyed) and the book was quite different. That's not to say that the book was bad, I think I just had different expectations. This is one of the very few times that I prefer the movie to the book, but I wonder if that would still be the case had I read the book first (as I often do). ( )

I suppose there are people who have neither read this book nor seen the movie. For their sakes, herewith the plot.

It is the early days of World War I. For some years, Rose and her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer, have been toiling to save souls for the Lord in German Central Africa, "he for God only, she for God in him". But now the German troops have descended on their village, carried away souls both converted and unconverted to toil for the Army, and illness carries away Samuel. At that moment, Charley Allnutt, a cockney engineer employed by a Belgian mining company, arrives in The African Queen, a rickety steam launch. The launch is carrying blasting gelatine and other supplies for the mine, but that, too, has fallen to the Germans.

So this odd pair team up to flee the Germans. But Rose decides that they ought to strike a blow for the British, and talks Allnutt into a mad plan to go down the river, past a German stronghold and over cataracts, and with jury-rigged torpedoes blast the Königin Luise to the bottom of the lake it guards.

Their adventures, and their unlikely love story, adapted by James Agee, John Huston and Peter Viertel, made for a delightful comedic film. It is a much-praised classic (for which Bogart won an Oscar, and Hepburn, Huston and Agee were nominated), and deservedly so. But the book is even better.

The love story is actually less unlikely in the book than in the film. It is so because Forester can show us more of the characters' depths, describe their background and their sensibilities, which in many ways make Rose and Allnutt much more alike than they seem in the film. (Huston made Allnutt a Canadian, not a Cockney, and Rose a mite higher-class than the tradesman's daughter Forester created. Forester makes clear that there was no difficulty of difference of social rank between them.) The book is, therefore, able to make the sexual and emotional relationship between the two much more credible.

The difference between film and book can be summed up by the passage that occurs their first night on the boat, when Allnutt is drinking gin.

Film:
Allnutt: What about a cup o' tea, Miss?
Rose: I'd like a cup of tea.

Novel:
"What about a cup o' tea, Miss?"

Tea! Heat and thirst and fatigue and excitement had done their worst for Rose. She was limp and weary, and her throat ached. The imminent prospect of a cup of tea roused her to trembling excitement. Twelve cups of tea, each, Samuel and she had drunk daily for years. To-day she had had none -- she had eaten no food either, but at the moment that meant nothing to her. Tea! A cup of tea! Two cups of tea! Half a dozen great mugs of tea, strong, delicious, revivifying! Her mind was suffused with rosy pictures of an evening's tea drinking, a debauch compared with which the spring sowing festivities at the village by the mission station were only a pale shade.

"I'd like a cup of tea," she said.

The ending, too, is quite different from the film and, I think, better. (SPOILER ALERT).

In the film, The African Queen having been sunk in a storm, Allnutt and Rosie are captured by the Königen Luise and sentenced to hang. Allnutt asks the German captain to marry them, and as the brief ceremony ends, the Luise hits the remains of the Queen and is blown up by her torpedoes. The film ends with Rosie and Allnutt in the water, swimming for the eastern shore and safety.

In the book, though, the appearance of Rosie on the Luise prevents the German captain from executing Allnutt, as he could not kill one without the other and will not execute Rosie ("white women were so rare in Central Africa that he would have thought it monstrous"). Therefore, under a white flag of truce, he takes the two of them to Port Albert, Belgian Congo, and turns them over to the British forces there. It is British boats who, the next day, sink the Königen Luise. The book ends with Rose and Allnutt beginning "the long journey to Matadi and marriage. Whether or not they lived happily ever after is not easily decided".

The African Queen by C.S. Forester

What can I really say about the book The African Queen that isn’t already well-known as an award-winning movie? Originally published in 1935, this exceptional book was fairly closely reproduced in the movie in 1951 with relatively minor changes, the most obvious being that the main male character, Charlie Allnutt, was (and is) written as a Cockney character, whereas Humphrey Bogart, who played the role, was unable to carry this accent off and the character was rewritten. The time period of the story is the WWI-era in what is now called Tanzania. This book is a wonderfully exhilarating and inspiring story of faith, craftsmanship, relationship and adventure; a veritable roller-coaster ride.

The characters are very consistent in their growth and change, and Rose, the missionary’s sister left alone in Central Africa when her brother dies, shows her true spunk, tenacity and passion previously hidden in the type of life she had led in the past. Allnutt also grows in creativity, strength of character, and realization of self. The combination is volatile, electric, and passionate by turns and the interaction plays out well. Rose’s determination to “do her part for the Empire” so to speak, clashes with Allnutt’s wish to remain alive. He knows the rivers and the delicate condition of his boat, African Queen. He also is aware that nothing except a canoe has ever even attempted to go down the miles of rapids and cataracts she is proposing to do in order to reach Lake Wittelsbach. This is where the German gunboat Konigin Luise is patrolling to keep the British from gaining access to the German colony in Central Africa. Her proposal includes the destruction of this vessel.

Allnutt eventually agrees and with his engineering experience and handyman abilities, he decides that he after all can create torpedoes from items at hand. So begins the adventure of a lifetime. Malaria, torrential rains, lightning most nights, mosquitoes, flies and other insects in vast clouds around them, and damage to the boat, nothing gets in the way of their determination. I absolutely loved this book, the action, drama, excitement, and character was so complete, I almost felt myself running the rapids with them. Having loved the movie, I was surprised and delighted to find that the book had been reissued in 2006 and immediately purchased it. I am so glad I did. Once you get used to the cockney wording when Allnutt speaks, it reads beautifully. Adventure is definitely the most obvious, but the evolution of the characters is marvelous! I highly recommend this book for all the above reasons. ( )

After Rose's Brother (the preacher) dies, Allnut whom supplies the mission with supplies rescues Rose. She decided to torpedo the Konigin Luise. They travel down the river and fall in love before they reach the lake. Much like the movie except they do not blow up the ship. ( )